{"id":3794,"date":"2018-11-05T12:44:12","date_gmt":"2018-11-05T20:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/?p=3794"},"modified":"2018-11-05T12:44:12","modified_gmt":"2018-11-05T20:44:12","slug":"confessions-of-a-terrible-reader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2018\/writing\/confessions-of-a-terrible-reader\/","title":{"rendered":"Confessions of a Terrible Reader"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have to confess. I\u2019m a terrible reader even though I\u2019ve read hundreds of books. If there are no books, magazines or newspapers around, I\u2019ll read cereal boxes, advertisements on subway trains, emails I should\u2019ve unsubscribed to months ago and my unstoppable twitter feed.<\/p>\n

Words Matter<\/h3>\n

I\u2019m a terrible reader, because I don\u2019t take the time to read every word in a book. You\u2019d think I would because I\u2019m a writer. I know the pains I go through to find the right word. I struggle over sentence construction; I worry over metaphors and adjectives. It took me over ten years to write each of my first two novels<\/a><\/strong>.<\/span> With all this attention to detail, you\u2019d think I\u2019d give every writer their due. But I don\u2019t and I\u2019m the loser as a result.<\/p>\n

A Revelation<\/h3>\n

\"Confessions<\/a>What\u2019s brought about this revelation is Michael Ondaatje\u2019s beautifully executed novel, Warlight<\/em><\/strong><\/span>.<\/a> I began reading it and found it ho-hum. It wasn’t until I got to the halfway point that the story kicked in for me. Only problem then was my confusion. Because I had read the first half hurriedly, I didn\u2019t know some of the characters who began popping up again. I recalled that the author had mentioned them earlier on, but who they were was a mystery.<\/p>\n

So, I did what I never do. I went back to the beginning and read it again, but this time with attention to every word. What a difference! Rather than thinking the story was ho-hum, I began to appreciate its brilliance.<\/p>\n

Too Many Books and Too Little Time<\/h3>\n

I think the reason I had rushed through the pages of Warlight<\/em> the first time is the fact that I have so many great books to read and time is fleeting. I now realize I\u2019ve gained little by approaching an author\u2019s work in this way.<\/p>\n

Funnily enough, Robert, my husband, is a slower reader and even he goes back to the beginning of a novel when he\u2019s lost his way in a story. So, whether you’re a slow reader or a fast one like me, It\u2019s easy to get distracted when our minds are full of to-do lists, relationship matters, and daily needs like food and sleep that grab our attention.<\/p>\n

Not Too Late To Change<\/h3>\n

But it\u2019s not too late to change. I love what I\u2019ve discovered about myself. I intend to read every word now and though I will obviously get through less books, I know I\u2019m going to be rewarded immeasurably. What about you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

And If you haven\u2019t signed up for Diana’s Book News<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, do, as I\u2019m getting another newsletter out this week with another free chapter of Along Came A Gardener.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have to confess. I\u2019m a terrible reader even though I\u2019ve read hundreds of books. If there are no books, magazines or newspapers around, I\u2019ll read cereal boxes, advertisements on… <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3796,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[744,4],"tags":[903,78,1019,511,1018,33,5],"class_list":["post-3794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-writing","tag-along-came-a-gardener","tag-diana-stevan","tag-michael-ondatje","tag-reader","tag-warlight","tag-writer","tag-writing-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Warlight.jpeg?fit=326%2C450&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LuVB-Zc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1593,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2014\/writing\/jumping-into-the-fray-of-self-publishing\/","url_meta":{"origin":3794,"position":0},"title":"Jumping into the Fray of Self-Publishing","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"5 \u041a\u0432\u0456\u0442\u043d\u044f, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"It's spring! What better time to jump into the fray of self-publishing. It's a time to blossom, so I'm going for it. Yes, I\u2019ve decided to self-publish my book, A Cry From The Deep, a romantic mystery. I resisted at first, because it\u2019s a hell of a lot of work\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Magnolia Blossom by Diana Stevan","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/IMG_0295-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":212,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/writing\/breaking-the-rules\/","url_meta":{"origin":3794,"position":1},"title":"Breaking the rules","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"17 \u0411\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0437\u043d\u044f, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Like any other professional, a writer never stops honing his craft.\u00a0 There are so many \"dos\" and \"don'ts\" in articles on how to write, that if an author tried to follow them all, he could cripple himself in the process. Whatever passion he was trying to convey could be lost\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1979,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2015\/writing\/hemingway-in-cuba\/","url_meta":{"origin":3794,"position":2},"title":"Hemingway In Cuba","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"17 \u041a\u0432\u0456\u0442\u043d\u044f, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"After two weeks in Havana, I have many stories about Ernest Hemingway in Cuba. There are tours to all of the Nobel prize-winning author's haunts: the bars that he frequented, the hotel room where he wrote, and his home outside of Havana. Not surprisingly, he's revered by Cubans. He wrote\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hemingway in Cuba","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Oldmansea.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":296,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/writing\/more-thoughts-on-writing-rules-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":3794,"position":3},"title":"More thoughts on writing rules","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"5 \u041a\u0432\u0456\u0442\u043d\u044f, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Paula Renaye, author of The Hardlines Self-Help Handbook www.hardlineselfhelp.com had an interesting response to my earlier post on writing rules. As she said I could post her thoughts, here they are: \"It's funny, we all approach a topic from our experiences and our own lens. When I first started writing,\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3613,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2018\/writing\/the-agony-and-ecstasy-of-writing\/","url_meta":{"origin":3794,"position":4},"title":"The Agony and Ecstasy of Writing","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"8 \u041a\u0432\u0456\u0442\u043d\u044f, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"What writer hasn\u2019t experienced both agony and ecstasy in their writing? Following your passion means subjecting yourself to those highs and lows. Self-doubts of All Writers This post, however, isn't so much about my agony and ecstasy in writing, it's about what all writers go through when they write their\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?_encoding=UTF8&MarketPlace=US&ASIN=0889227411&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL250_&tag=dianastevan08-20","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6351,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2024\/writing\/the-kindness-of-strangers-and-strange-authors\/","url_meta":{"origin":3794,"position":5},"title":"Kindness of Strangers on Goodreads","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"9 \u0421\u0456\u0447\u043d\u044f, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"When I read about a recent book scandal, I was reminded of the line, \"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.\" Blanche Debois says it in the Tennessee Williams play, Streetcar Named Desire. It\u2019s a curious line because Blanche is not great at assessing strangers, and the only\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"kindness of strangers","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/OIP-1.jpeg?fit=474%2C720&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}